Check out these (short) clips of recent Fox Business coverage of the magazine industry. I read Samir Husni’s Mr. Magazine blog, which is often very interesting. And I’m acquainted with Matt Kinsman, who recently invited me to speak at the Folio Show next month (the topic: Print/web content strategies). But I wasn’t compelled to blog about the clip until the very end of it, when the interviewer concluded by thanking the guests and said, “Samir, I love your authenticity.”
Is it me, or did her line there seem dismissive? Dismissive in a patronizing, “Oh, look at the man with the ideas that are so different” sort of way? Or maybe it’s just that mentioning his authenticity implies that the other guests weren’t very authentic (that wasn’t my impression)? Or that people in general are rarely authentic? Or maybe it’s guests on Fox News who leave their trueness at the door?
Oh, to live in a business world where authenticity is valued. Like, a lot. Like, more than saying the right vacuous phrase, more than pandering to some group large or small, more than making a buck even at the expense of yes, that’s right, authenticity.
Know why I absolutely love reading Husni’s blog? Because he frequently slays the business decisions of magazine publishers. He’s not obnoxious about it, but he doesn’t mince words. His general gist is that an evolving consumer population requires the businesses that serve it to evolve, too. Innovation is key.
There’s a part of my brain that lights up when I hear stuff like that. Know why? Because it’s, like, undeniably true. True true true. And yet so many people—is it the majority of people? It must be a lot, because people dismiss me by complimenting my enthusiasm and my creativity as often as others embrace me for the same things—don’t see it at all.